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yegarts · 2 years ago

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I am YEG Arts: Ray Dak Lam

Since taking the plunge into freelancing, Ray Dak Lam has made big waves as a graphic designer and illustrator. Known best for his signature geometric designs and vibrant colour palette, Ray is sought after locally and internationally with some big-name clients under his belt. In just a few years as a freelancer, Ray has embraced new opportunities from his first mural project to taking part in Adobe’s Global Creator series — this week’s I am YEG Arts story puts the spotlight on Ray Dak Lam.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and about why you’ve made Edmonton your home.

I'm an illustrator and designer from Edmonton. I graduated from the MacEwan Design Studies program in 2014. I got my creative career started working at a couple of advertising agencies and at a smaller design agency. Since then, I’ve become a full-time freelancer — that's what I've been doing for the past few years. I really like the creative freedom of freelancing, and that I get to explore more of my own personal style as well as choose my own clients and hours.

I was born in Edmonton and have lived here all my life. All my friends and family are here, I feel like Edmonton will always be my home. Edmonton has also shaped who I am as an artist in many ways — the people, especially those I went to school with and have worked with, all my coworkers, friends and experiences growing up — I think it all inevitably influences the subject matter in my work and the themes that I introduce into my illustrations. And now I hope to contribute what I can to the city's creative culture.

What drew you to graphic design and illustration? How did you get your start?

During my first year of high school, I took a graphic arts program, and my very first project was to recreate a font or typeface. It was through typography that I discovered my love for graphic design. And that's when I began considering it as a career for myself. As for illustration, drawing has always been part of my life. I was always drawing as a kid, and I was never really good at any other subjects in school. Art was the only subject that I was passionate about. It is what motivated me and pushed me to pursue it all through childhood until now.

Tell us about someone who mentored you or helped set you on your path.

One of my first mentors was Andrew Benson. I worked with him at my first job at an advertising agency. He taught me a lot about branding, design, and the advertising industry in general. He’s passionate about print design and illustration and taught me their importance when it comes to design. He really inspired me when he went off to start his own studio and I hoped for myself I could follow in his footsteps.

Tell us about a big professional risk that you have taken and how it has influenced where you are today.

I would say taking the leap into full-time freelancing. It was scary in the beginning. I got laid off during the beginning of the pandemic from my advertising agency job. And at least for me, it was hard to find another full-time position. I was only able to land various short-term contracts, and some freelance projects here and there. In that moment I saw it as an opportunity to try this freelancing thing full-time since it has always been a dream of mine.

The pandemic and getting laid off were the push I needed to take the full leap into freelancing. It really changed my career for the better and it has opened up a lot of opportunities that I never would have thought possible. I have had a chance to work with and collaborate with a lot of clients that I had thought were unattainable. And I’ve gotten to collaborate with many other incredibly talented designers and creative people in Edmonton.

Who's someone inspiring you right now?

Someone who is really inspiring me right now is an illustrator from Vancouver, Tom Froese, he makes Skillshare courses, through which he teaches his approach to commercial illustration; YouTube videos, podcasts — all on the topic of illustration, and aimed at people interested in the creative industry. I've done a couple of his Skillshare courses and I'm attending one of his workshops at the RGD DesignThinkers conference coming up May 30 -31 in Vancouver.

He inspired me to find a focus and explore it as deeply as I can. His style has a very distinctive voice and he mentioned in his videos that it was the result of repeating a set of techniques over and over again once he found something that worked for him, so this really inspired me to seek a similar path for myself in terms of finding my own unique stylistic voice.

What does your creative process look like? Where or how do you usually begin?

For me, it always begins in my sketchbook. I try to bring my sketchbook with me anywhere and everywhere I can. Especially when I'm traveling, during those long plane rides and train rides where I can just let my mind wander and draw freely — whatever comes to mind. After that I pick my favorite sketches and vectorize the artwork, then bring it into Photoshop where I use my drawing tablet to add texture to bring more of my own personality to the artwork.

I enjoy creating abstract and geometric compositions because it's a meditative and calming process for me. I started a personal project during the pandemic called "Shape Studies", and it's been an ongoing project ever since. With a focus on the fundamental elements of shape, line, and colour, I explore freely within those basic fundamentals to create the most interesting compositions that I possibly can. I also use similar principles of geometry and abstraction when I'm illustrating other subject matter, such as animals, landscapes, people, etc. I'll continuously remove any unnecessary details and distill them into their most essential and fundamental forms.

Tell us about one of the most exciting projects or opportunities you've had.

One of the most exciting opportunities I had last year was the chance to collaborate with Adobe on their Global Creator series. It was a series where they featured different artists from around the world and they decided to feature me. They had me self-shoot a ton of footage around my studio, capture shots around Edmonton, and create a short tutorial explaining some of the techniques that I use to create my illustrations.

It was both exciting and nerve wracking appearing on video, but I'm glad I did the project because I love the way it turned out in the end.

Tell us about a favourite local project and a favourite international project.

One of my favourite local projects was for Doughnut Party. They had me create a mural for their Ritchie location. I collaborated with Jennifer Konanz — she's a local mural and sign painter. She's incredibly talented and I feel grateful to have collaborated with her. She helped translate my artwork into a large-scale mural. It was really cool to see my artwork on such a large scale, which I don't get to see very often.

A favourite international project would be a commission for GoDaddy to create a set of illustrations centered around Asian Heritage Month and Lunar New Year. The project was really special to me because I got to express my own cultural background and upbringing as an Asian Canadian. Also, it was fun to illustrate dragons and dumplings in my own style.

What are you currently working on and what do you hope to explore next?

I've just completed the 36 days of type challenge on Instagram yesterday and it was really satisfying to see it through from start to finish! The project invites designers, illustrators and artists from all over the world to create a letter or number each day for 36 days straight. It was my first time taking part in the challenge. I really love to explore creatively, and I feel it’s important to work outside of client deadlines and budgets. It’s somewhere I can freely express my voice and craft and refine my style.

It was great seeing all of the other work from artists and designers that I follow, as well as discovering new artists to follow. Freelancing can be isolating at times, so participating in this challenge made me feel like I was part of this larger community all undertaking this daily activity together.

What excites you most about the Edmonton arts scene right now?

All the projects centered around Edmonton's Chinatown like Chinatown Greetings, created by Emily Chu and Shawn Tse, and Jordon Hon’s A Portrait of Chinatown documentary series. And many other creative projects that are supported by the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative (CTC). All these projects play a really important role in the revitalization of Edmonton's Chinatown. It's really inspiring to see so many people from different creative backgrounds coming together for a common cause.

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! You can keep up with Ray on Instagram, Behance, Dribbble or visit his website.

About Ray Dak Lam

Ray Dak Lam is a designer and illustrator from Edmonton, Canada. His work is characterized by its simplicity, utilizing vibrant colours and bold geometric forms as the basis for direct, communicative imagery. He works primarily on brand and illustration focused projects with clients around the world, such as Asana, GoDaddy, and McDonald's.

#iamyegarts #yegarts #edmontonarts #yeg #illustration #edmonton art #yegartists

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yegarts · 2 years ago

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Edmonton Arts Council celebrates the achievements of 20 local professional artists

The Edmonton Arts Council, City of Edmonton, and Edmonton Community Foundation are pleased to announce the 2022 recipients of the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund awards.

Twenty (20) artists have been awarded a 2022 Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund award. Each award is $15,000, for a total of $300,000.

"We are so pleased to support and celebrate these 20 inspiring artists,” said Sanjay Shahani, Executive Director of the Edmonton Arts Council. “Our diverse arts community is one of the forces that brings our city together and makes the Edmonton region a vibrant and exciting place to live. The 2022 recipients demonstrate commitment and excellence in their respective disciplines, helping to foster an exciting ecology of creation and expression in Edmonton."

“Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the EATF,” said Tina Thomas, CEO of Edmonton Community Foundation. “We are thankful for the creative contributions this cohort of recipients have made to our city, and we look forward to the new works that they will produce with support from this important initiative."

The Edmonton Artists' Trust Fund (EATF) recognizes an artist’s work and contribution to the community. The $15,000 awards provide financial stability for artists to renew, develop, create or experiment. These awards are supported by the proceeds from the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund, held by the Edmonton Community Foundation.

Recipients of the 2022 Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund:

Clockwise from top left: AJA Louden, photo by Leah Louden; Ann Vriend, photo by Johwanna Alleyne; Connor Yuzwenko-Martin, photo by Alexa Hickox; Dylan Toymaker, photo supplied by the artist.

Adrian (AJA) Louden (he/him) is a Jamaican-Canadian artist committed to challenging the negative perceptions of street-based art and making art accessible and relatable. His Aerosol Academy series uses the lens of graffiti and street art to get youth excited about art making and art history, and he is an active mentor working to remove barriers and support emerging artists.

Ann Vriend (she/her) is a two-time Maple Blues Award songwriting recipient, a Maple Blues Keyboardist of the Year nominee, an Edmonton Music Award and Alberta Centennial Award recipient, and has sold nearly 30,000 albums off-the-stage in her under-the-radar yet critically acclaimed international career. She is a passionate advocate for empowerment and respect for the members of her inner-city neighborhood of McCauley, Edmonton.

Connor Yuzwenko-Martin (he/him) is a Deaf creator, public relations specialist, actor, producer, and playwright. He is currently writing and producing his first original script, After Faust, in partnership with RISER Edmonton. He is also launching The Invisible Practice, a hybrid Deaf arts collective and public relations agency.

Dylan Toymaker (he/him) is a light design and installation artist. His focus is on creative placemaking through the sculpture of light and shadow. As a designer, creator and curator, his practice involves environmental and architectural public art events. Dylan has created and curated art for the Flying Canoe Volant festival and many other Alberta festivals.

Clockwise from top left: Gail Sidonie Šobat, photo by Geoff McMaster; Katrina Beatty, photo by Ian Jackson; Kevin Cardinal, photo provided by the artist; Lianna Makuch, photo by LV Imagery.

Gail Sidonie Šobat (she/her) is an author, creator-director of YouthWrite®, SpokenWord Youth/Adult Choirs, and is an instructor in MacEwan’s Communications program. Her work has won a number of awards, is published in academic and literary journals, anthologies, broadcast on radio, and performed on stage.

Katrina Beatty (she/her) is a filmmaker whose work includes short and feature films, web series, music videos and multi-media projections. She was awarded “Outstanding Music Video” at FAVA Fest in 2018 for her concept and direction of Juno Award winning band Whitehorse’s video “Pink Kimono”. More recently, Katrina produced the Telefilm funded feature film Before I Change My Mind, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2022.

Kevin Cardinal (he/him) is a Cree acrylic painter/muralist who uses art to represent teachings, principles, knowledge, and understandings gained from attending ceremonies throughout the years. Kevin’s work reflects his search for inner peace, healing, and balance. His painting style is inspired by the bold black lines, and vibrant colors of the woodland style of art.

Lianna Makuch (she/her) is a Ukrainian Canadian playwright, performer, director, and co-Artistic Producer of Pyretic Productions. Her work has garnered awards and recognition nationally and in Ukraine, including the Shevchenko Foundation’s 2020 REACH Award. By exploring themes connected to her Ukrainian identity, she endeavours to create empathetic performance experiences with universal impact.

Clockwise from top left: Lindsey Walker, photo by Briane Jang; Louise Casemore, photo by Jody Christopherson; Madeline LeBlanc, photo provided by the artist; Mat Cardinal, photo provided by the artist.

Lindsey Walker (she/her) is an award-winning singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and theatre performer. Lindsey wrote the score and lyrics for ren & the wake, an original semi-immersive musical created with Catch the Keys Productions. She also composed the score for the podcast “Natural Life” and composed the sound design for the theatre productions Re:Construct (Donkey Dog Theatre) and Shock Me Electra (Theatre Network Young Company).

Louise Casemore (she/her) is an advocate, performer, and two-time Sterling Award winning playwright. Original works include OCD, GEMINI, and Undressed, which recently premiered with Alberta Theatre Projects. She remains active in the national community by way of dramaturgy, research, and as an Artist Consultant focused on HR mechanisms for arts organizations.

Madeline LeBlanc (she/her) is a visual artist who strives to create inclusive spaces for audience participation, highlighting issues of accessibility in the industry. Her artwork may appear lighthearted and fun, but beneath the surface lies important commentary on the dynamics of classism in the art world and the pressure put on artists and markets by art collectors.

Mat Cardinal (he/him) is from Wabasca, Alberta and a proud member of the Bigstone Cree Nation. Mat is the lead singer of The Prairie States, a nine-time Country Music Alberta Award recipient and nominee for Songwriters of the Year 2022 at the Canadian Country Music Awards. Mat takes his role as a mentor for Indigenous youth seriously as his hard work/passion for performing/songwriting make waves in the music industry.

Clockwise from top left: Michelle Campos Castillo, photo by Fern Facette; Mouraine, photo provided by the artist; Nauzanin Knight, photo by Motif Photography; Reckie Lloyd, photo provided by the artist.

Michelle Campos Castillo (she/her) is a graphic designer and artist born in El Salvador. She has received several public art commissions from the City of Edmonton, including Platanos at the Belvedere Transit Centre, and is finalizing artwork for the Valley Line West LRT. She is currently working on a graphic memoir titled Colonia, based on her life in El Salvador during the country’s civil war.

Mouraine (he/him), who immigrated from Sudan at an early age, makes soulful hip-hop with a reverence for place and community, and a strong political sensibility. His debut EP Bigger Dreams was released in 2021.

Nauzanin Knight (she/her) is the CEO/Director of 1844 Studios. She got her start as a published writer, going on to write, direct and produce numerous films. Nauzanin is an alumnus of Women in the Director’s Chair, Sundance Collab (2020), BANFF Spark (2020) and ReelWorld (2021). An ardent contributor to her community, Nauzanin has led projects including, “Building Inclusive Networks in the Film & Television Industry” (Telefilm, CMF, 2021).

Reckie Lloyd (he/him) is a visual artist and the founder of Sangea Academy, a West African drumming and dance entity that shares the power of percussion with Canadians. During the Covid 19 Pandemic, Reckie found himself rediscovering his love for fine arts, refining his painting techniques and creating from a mature perspective.

Clockwise from top left: Robbie Townsend, photo provided by the artist; Tai Amy Grauman, photo by Emilie Igiotti; Vikki Wiercinski, photo by Cooper O'Hara; Tia Ashley Kushniruk, photo by Kendra Epik.

Robbie Townsend (AKA Father Bobby) (he/him) is a Juno nominated music producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has built a reputation as an artist-focused producer, placing value on the song above all else, with the goal to create a specific colour palette for each project he takes on, helping artists discover, shape and redefine their sounds.

Tai Amy Grauman (she/her) is an actor, playwright, director and producer of Métis, Cree and Haudenosaunee heritage. She is currently defending her thesis for her MFA in theatre practice at the U of A with a focus on her artistic research of 'Metis women's love stories' and is adapting 'Romeo and Juliet: A Metis love story' as well as adapting her play 'You used to call me Marie...' into a limited film series.

Tia Ashley Kushniruk (亚女弟) (she/her), a queer woman of Chinese-Ukrainian settler heritage, has been affiliated with the Cirque Du Soleil since 2013 and is a frequent collaborator of Jake W. Hastey (Toy Guns Dance Theatre). Tia is the inaugural recipient of the CONFLUENCE Fellowship from Catalyst Theatre and is a current company member of Shay Kuebler/RSA. In addition to theatre and dance, Tia is also an illustrator and animator.

Vikki Wiercinski (she/her) is an artist, ceramicist and designer focused on weaving together ceramic sculpture and drawing. She also works as the lead organizer of the Royal Bison Art and Craft Fair and creates textile and surface designs for her Mezzaluna Studio project.

#yegarts #yeg #edmonton art #EATF #EdmontonCommunityFoundation

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